For Father’s day this year I decided to make a my dad a treat. He struggles with SCD or Specific Carbohydrate Diet due to long term digestive problems. It is a very strict diet. From the book Breaking The Vicious Cycle… “Some general guidelines are, no grains (i.e. rice, wheat, corn, oats, etc.), no processed foods, no starchy vegetables (i.e. potatoes, yams, etc.), no canned vegetables of any kind, no flour, no sugar, no sweeteners other than honey and saccharin, and no milk products except for homemade yogurt fermented for 24 hours, prepared according to the instructions in the book.” These guidelines make it pretty darn hard to make anything decadent and sweet for a special occasion… or does it? This recipe is one I have adapted from the book. It is beyond moist and sweet and is easily made vegan (except the frosting). It holds together pretty well as gluten free cakes usually crumble apart. Perfect for those struggling with Crohn’s disease, SCD or Celiac disease. One note: making it vegan I found it to be much more crumbly. It’s very hard to get anything gluten free to not fall apart. Still tasted good though. If your diet allows it, add 1 teaspoon of xanthum gum and that should help.

Mix all dry ingredients in a separate bowl. In three parts SIFT in the mixture, blending in just till incorporated.

Add carrots and banana. You can add raisins, and nuts if you like as well. This cake has a long bake time as it is quite dense.Put into a well greased 8 inch square pan, or grease round 9 inch cake pan, line the bottom with parchment paper for easy removal.

Bake 350 F for 45 to 60 min. Just keep checking as you don’t want it to go too dark on top. 55 minutes has worked for me.

Take a sieve and double line it with paper towel or cheese cloth. Place sieve over bowl and pour the yogurt in. Cover and let sit in your fridge overnight to drain. You will find the next morning a thick dense sour cream in the morning.

Melt the coconut oil and let it cool a bit before adding to the yogurt along with the honey and scrapings of the vanilla bean (you could use 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla). Pop this mixture back in the fridge. The coconut oil with firm up as it cools down.

Frost the cake just before eating it. Yum! My dad loved it and I love my dad… xox *d

(This frosting is obviously not vegan. I’m not sure if soy yogurt would work but it could be worth a try.)

Wow. I’ve been looking for a good carrot cake – in fact, *any* carrot cake – recipe for a while. I was slightly taken aback by this: a sugar free, gluten free and vegan carrot cake sounds suspiciously like, well, a carrot. But this sounds great, and the pics bear that out. Nice job. Now I guess I’ve got to tempt the hellfires of damnation and thoughtful baking. I think I’ll be in the oven before the cake will.

I made this cake last nite & it was beautiful! thank you so much for sharing such a wonderful recipe! I suffer with similar issues as your dad & have tried quite a few different recipes for a carrot cake …. but this one … by far the best! doesn’t fall apart & become crumbly (like mamy i gluten free, sugar free i have tried), is super moist & tasty! love the icing too, i was thinking of adding some fresh pineapple pieces to the next one …. thanks heaps for sharing!

so glad you liked it Trisha! yes, fresh fruit on top would be awesome or maybe somehow caramelized on the bottom with honey first? then pour the batter on top and bake? so an upside down pineapple cake… hmmm maybe i’ll try that next time…😉 *d